Peter And Ellen Allard

Jump out of your seat and sing.

p

eter and Ellen Allard live a life
of artistic composting.
"We think of our lives as a
kind of composting. All the scraps get
the sunlight, then in time it turns into
rich soil," Ellen says. "Peter and I pride
ourselves on paying very keen atten-
tion to what we experience because all
these things help us write songs."
A graduate of Worcester State
College in Massachusetts, Peter Allard
holds a degree in health education.
Ellen graduated from Boston University
with degrees in music education
and performance and has a master's
degree in early childhood education
from Arcadia University in suburban
Philadelphia.
Both built successful careers of their
own before they met, and now they
are, of course, making beautiful music
together. Literally.
A bassoonist acquaintance suggested
that Ellen, for many years a teacher,
consider a career as a children's enter-
tainer. Her jaw dropped to the ground,
and she stood silent in "complete and
utter disbelief."
But she decided to give it a try.
Peter, meanwhile, was establishing
his own career in the music field. He
and Ellen both performed as soloists
for five years, never even meeting.
When they finally did, "we immediately

clicked and started performing togeth-
er," Ellen says. "It was so natural."
The two married, and their careers
did the same. "We had each released
two solo recordings, then decided
to merge the four, producing a new
recording with our most popular songs,
plus some new ones and some other
folk songs we liked."
Before marrying, Ellen had worked
at a Jewish community center nursery
school. She mentioned to Peter that
she had a few Jewish songs she had
written while working there, and the
two decided to make these the basis
for another recording. So Ellen wrote
more songs to complete the project,
and Peter did the instrumentals and
production. "We didn't have any grand
plans for what we would do with it,"
Ellen says, but soon enough the pair
were invited to perform at a CAJE
(Coalition for the Advancement of
Jewish Education) conference. "We
haven't taken a breath since."
While many entertainers might find
the idea of playing for children unap-
pealing, the Allards love it. And they
understand that writing music for
children doesn't mean variations on
a theme of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or
playing the same thing you would for
teens, but with a bit more enthusiasm.
"People say, 'Oh, it's just kids' stuff!'"

Elaine Serling

A tapestry of musical wealth.

A

II you have to do is say,
"Oda" or "marojnoya" or
"hiele crema," and you've
learned a little something," says singer-
songwriter Elaine Serling.
"Even if all you know is how to say
'ice cream' in three languages" (like
Hebrew, Russian and Spanish), "it gives
you a hint about how other people live.
It gives you a different flavor of life."
Serling is a Detroit native whose
heart belongs to yet another language:
Yiddish. She learned Yiddish at the
Sholom Aleichem Institute when she
was a little girl and will perform A Bissel
Yiddish at MusicFest.
Her singing also began when Serling
was young. She was 10 when her parents
suggested she take lessons — singing,
dancing or piano. By the time she was

15, she was performing professionally.
Serling's Yiddish concert is about
"having some fun with Jewish music
and looking at what Jewish music really
is." She performs in Yiddish, Hebrew
and English, singing original material
"and some traditional tunes that every-
body will know."
So what, exactly, makes music
"Jewish"?
"If it's written in Yiddish, it's clearly
Jewish," she says." But music in other
languages, if the composer is Jewish,
also constitutes Jewish music.
"Jewish music is more than music
written in Yiddish or having a Jewish
theme. The influence on music from
Jewish composers and songwriters is
heard with hints of rhythms, motifs
and sounds captured from our experi-

Ellen says. "But writing and performing
music for children takes a particular
talent and an understanding of what is
developmentally appropriate."
Their goal in a concert: Get everyone
up and singing. "We want people to
engage with all the music, to experi-
ence it not just in their heads but in
their bodies," Ellen says. "We feel
strongly about asking parents to par-
ticipate, because they're modeling for
kids and because it's fun to be part of
an old-fashioned get-together. When
everyone sings, it also helps the audi-
ence bond; there's something unspo-
ken that happens to the energy in the
room, and everyone leaves stronger
because of it."
Ellen and Peter usually write music
separately, then collaborate on a final
product. Sometimes a song will seem-
ingly "fall out of the sky," and other
times writing music is a lot of hard,
inspired work. Recently the Worcester,
Mass.-based couple were invited to
compose a song for a recording that
celebrates Mayim Hayyim, a Boston-
based mikvah (ritual bath) spearheaded
by author Anita Diamant to serve all
Jews — men, women and children.
To prepare, the Allards read, studied
and visited the mikvah. "To know that
you're participating in a ritual that is
centuries old, and you're standing on
the shoulders of all the people who
have done this before gives you a

ences of being wandering Jews. On the
positive side, the wandering enabled us
[songwriters] the opportunity to cre-
ate from that reservoir and tapestry
of musical wealth not as strangers, but
as natives. They are our sounds and
rhythms, too."
Perhaps this piercing history is what
makes Jewish music so much more than
just a collection of pretty notes.
Serling says of her favorite Yiddish
song, "Oyfn Pripechek," for example:
"The words are so simple, the melody
so lovely and yet the message is so
deep." It's a song about students and
their rabbi, the Hebrew words they love,
which "as a people we've passed on
from generation to generation."
Serling has been involved in Jewish
music education for more than four
decades, and she still loves the Yiddish
songs she has been performing all these
years.
Just a single Yiddish word — "bubble"

Peter and Ellen Allard

unique and powerful connection to your
ancestors," Ellen says.
The Allards, who love "music of all
kinds — Jewish music, jazz, classical,
rock, country, New Age," especially
enjoy doing artist-in-residency week-
ends at synagogues. They also like
posting uplifting, spiritual quotes
around the house (the bathroom is
filled with them). "Peter and I adore
each other," Ellen says. So when not
performing they sit together and read
and talk — or indulge a secret passion
for thrift shops.
"Sometimes we go with a very spe-
cific need," Ellen says. Other times it's
just the thrill of the hunt."

- Elizabeth Applebaum

Elaine Serling

for instance — "forms such a wonderful
image," she says. "Yiddish is a gem."

- Elizabeth Applebaum

March 1 @ 200?

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